New York mother arraigned for hiring strippers for teen's party

(Reuters) - An upstate New York woman pleaded not guilty on Thursday to five counts of child endangerment after other parents complained that she hired female strippers for her son’s 16th birthday party.

Judy Viger, 33, of Gansevoort, New York, denied the charges of endangering the welfare of a child at her arraignment in the Town of Moreau Court, according to a court spokesperson. If convicted, she would face up to one year in jail.

Viger was arrested after parents of five teenage partygoers saw Facebook pictures of the scantily clad dancers performing intimate routines at the bash last November 3 at Spare Time Bowling Center in South Glens Falls, New York, about 50 miles north of Albany.

“The parents of the children who attended had no idea that the adult female entertainers would be present and were shocked and stunned when they discovered what had occurred,” the Saratoga County district attorney, James A. Murphy, III, said in a statement released at the time of Viger’s arrest.

“Pictures of the event and the dancers first surfaced in media accounts of the story once they were posted to one of the attendees’ Facebook page,” Murphy said.

Viger was accused of hiring adult female entertainers from Tops In Bottoms Entertainment, of Albany, who performed at the birthday party.

Her attorney, Joseph Brennan of Queensbury, New York, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

If convicted of any or all of the five counts of endangering the welfare of a child, Viger faces a maximum of one year behind bars as any sentence would run concurrently since the counts stem from a single incident, according to a court spokesperson.

Viger was due back in court on April 4.

Reporting by Caurie Putnam in Rochester; Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Leslie Adler